Readers’ forum: A bridge too far?

I act for a VAT-registered husband and wife partnership who trade as a rural café in the Lake District. They also own a bridge near the café which collects toll fees. No VAT is accounted for on these toll fees because they are earned through a separate legal entity with their children that is not VAT registered; in other words the annual turnover is less than £85 000. In the past all of the repair and maintenance costs for the bridge have been paid for by the separate entity but a large task now needs to be carried out which will cost £20 000 plus VAT.

It has been suggested that the café should pay half of this cost because the bridge is one of only two routes to the café because of its remote location. My thinking is that the partnership should engage the...